Fad or Cure? Some Vets Question a Push for Alternative PTSD Treatments
As reported by Linda Hersey for Stars and Stripes, Iraq War veteran Adrian Anthony’s regimen of anti-psychotics and anti-depressants to ease his hallucinations, depression, and night terrors has been adjusted a half-dozen times in two years. The 43-year-old former Army private admits the medications prescribed by doctors at the VA clinic in Hinesville, Ga., only blunt his PTSD symptoms and aren’t a cure. But Anthony said he is not convinced that proposals for alternative treatments — including hallucinogenic drugs and breathing pure oxygen in extraordinary chambers — that some veteran groups and lawmakers are pushing on Capitol Hill will address his mental health problems from military service 20 years ago. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) recently introduced the Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Act to create a VA pilot for hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatments for PTSD and traumatic brain injuries that are more common in veterans than the general population. A companion bill cleared the House Veterans ‘ Affairs Committee earlier this year.
Link to Stars & Stripes article: